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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28367367">The Dance of Battle</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LancePuns/pseuds/LancePuns'>LancePuns</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fluffcember 2020 [24]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluffcember, Fluffcember 2020, Pokemon Contests, Pokemon Training, Rivals to Friends to Lovers, Working on that last part</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:55:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>575</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28367367</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LancePuns/pseuds/LancePuns</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>May and Drew independently decide to take a season off from contests and find themselves training with one another.</p><p>Fluffcember Day 25: Dancing</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Haruka | May/Shuu | Drew</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fluffcember 2020 [24]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2039902</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Dance of Battle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>They always say that battles can be like a dance, and I believe that to be especially true of contest battles. So yes, I count this as dancing. Am I cheating? Probably. Do I care? Not particularly, I don't dance, I wouldn't know how to write a dancing fic otherwise.</p><p>Also, apologies for going 3 straight days without posting anything! I'm working on Day 24 and Day 26 as I write this. I might not get them out until tomorrow because I've got plans tonight (DMing for some friends), but my plan is to get them, as well as days 27 and 28 out tomorrow! As a sneak peek, the games/shows I'm doing for those prompts are Pokemon Black and White, Persona 4 Golden, Octopath Traveler, and Miraculous Ladybug!</p><p>Prompts can be found here: https://twitter.com/doop_doop2/status/1306753380182712321?s=21</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>May’s work as a coordinator got easier yet harder as time went on. After going through the Hoenn, Kanto, and Johto circuits, she decided she needed to train a bit more before she was ready for her next adventure. She stayed in Hoenn for the season, preparing for her next planned season in the Sinnoh region, and didn’t expect to see anyone she recognized other than her family.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So imagine her reaction when, on her way to train in a place north of Rustboro called Meteor Falls, she ran (quite literally) into a familiar green-haired coordinator. The two spat insults and annoyances at one another as if they’d been traveling for quite a while now before they agreed to train together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As it turns out, Drew decided he also needed a break from contests. With his first season so bright, he’d expected to only improve and get better, but this position in the Grand Festival was a letdown for him in Kanto and Johto. From being the runner-up in his first season to going out in the quarter-finals in his next two seasons, Drew felt he needed a break to clear his mind and improve individually. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course, if they trained together, the likelihood that they would improve tremendously was high. Both were previous finalists, and both had consistently placed in top 8 all three of their seasons so far. As egotistical as it sounded of him, May had to agree that the logic was sound enough. Not perfect, but good enough that she was okay with training with him for a few days at least.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And over the course of that time, they decided to do this throughout their break season. May and Drew were still rivals, of course, and they would often trash talk one another while they trained, but now, it was different. They had always been friendly before, but now they weren’t competing against one another. They were friends trying to improve one another in their dance to the top. For the first time since she had stopped traveling with Ash, Brock, and Max, May felt like she had a real companion and friend with her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course, with her brain shifting to think of Drew as a friend rather than a rival, that made way for the thoughts she ignored during Hoenn and Kanto to resurface. A small whisper that he was handsome, a blush at the rose he would give when she lost, the butterflies that would gather whenever he remarked how well she’d improved since the first day they met. When they were rivals, she was too annoyed by most everything he did to think about it often, but now that they were friends, the thoughts felt like they popped up all the time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Drew snickered as she was lost in thought and let her Wartortle faint, which got her to blink out of her thoughts. The green-haired boy shook his head, “Still daydreaming sometimes, huh? You should really focus more while practicing,” he mocked, and she tried to ignore how handsome he was because she was to frustrated with his teasing to pay attention to it (not really, but she wasn’t going to admit that to herself).</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Drew, shut up, and let’s go for round 4! Beautifly!” she challenged, refusing to let up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Across from her, the boy smirked and sent out his Masquerain. For as silly as she was, he enjoyed this time they spent dancing.</span>
</p>
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